Charlotte Motor Speedway will host the NASCAR Cup Series for the 64th running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 28 at 6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, in a weekend filled with remembrance of the brave men and women who are serving or have served in our military.
The annual event takes pride in honoring our service members and their families and this weekend is expected to be another memorable experience for all.
Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of the most historic venues on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. The famous facility is a 1.5-mile, paved oval with 24 degrees of banking in the turns and is located just outside Charlotte, North Carolina.
Charlotte Motor Speedway (oval) has hosted 124 NASCAR Cup Series races all-time – tied with Darlington Raceway for the fourth-most in series history; behind Daytona (152), Martinsville (149) and Richmond (133). The first NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway was on June 19, 1960 and the inaugural event was won by driver Joe Lee Johnson driving a Chevrolet for car owner Paul McDuffie.
Charlotte Motor Speedway’s 124 Cup races have produced 48 different pole winners, led by NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson with 14 poles (1961, 1972, 1973, 1974 sweep, 1975 sweep, 1976 sweep, 1977 sweep, 1978 sweep, 1982) – the NASCAR Cup Series record for the most poles by a driver at a single track.
LEGACY MOTOR CLUB’s Jimmie Johnson leads all active drivers in NASCAR Cup Series poles at Charlotte Motor Speedway with four (2002, 2004, 2009, 2014). Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin is the most recent pole winner at Charlotte, winning the pole for last season’s Coca-Cola 600 with a speed of 183.680 MPH.
Nine of the 48 NASCAR Cup Series Charlotte Motor Speedway pole winners are active this weekend.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin is the defending winner of the 2022 Coca-Cola 600 and will look to become the seventh different driver to win back-to-back Coke 600s; joining Buddy Baker (1972-‘73), Darrell Waltrip (twice: 1978-’79 and 1988-’89), Neil Bonnett (1982-’83), Dale Earnhardt (1992-’93), Jeff Gordon (1997-‘98) and Jimmie Johnson (2003, ’04, ’05) – Johnson leads the series in consecutive Coca-Cola 600 wins with three straight.
All of the on-track action for the NASCAR Cup Series will begin with practice and Busch Light Pole Qualifying on Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET, and both events can be viewed on FS1.
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a great place for first-time winners
When it comes to getting your first win in the NASCAR Cup Series, nowhere beats Daytona International Speedway with 22 first-time winners. But when it comes to 1.5-mile tracks, none have produced more first-time winners than Charlotte Motor Speedway with 10 – fourth-most all-time behind Daytona (22), Talladega (13), and Martinsville (12)
The most recent driver to win his first career NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway was Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, who collected his first checkered flag back in 2017. Seven times the Coca-Cola 600 has been the first race a driver has won in the NASCAR Cup Series – 1961, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2017.
